Setting up and Filming Police Detective Scene

Yesterday we filmed the police detective scene with our drama teachers as the actors. We decided to film this at lunch time so the teachers were available. We used the previous lesson to set up the room to make it look more like an interview room. The room was ideal as it was our media teachers office which include a phone and filing cabinet which made it look more realistic.

After we began to set up we waited for the teachers to arrive which was a problem as one teachers forgot and we had to go and find them meaning we didn't start debriefing them and filming twenty minutes late, leaving us with half and hour. Although this we a lot of pressure for us as we would not be able to film them again if needed until next week, pushing us to edit very quickly. Therefore we decided to film the scene with three cameras simultaneously, me, Nicole and Hannah each went at different points around the room with different distances and angles so it saved time. This also benefitted us because it meant we would be able to use the same scene so there would be no differences in speech and positioning of the characters. We had to ensure that none of the cameras were in shot whilst filming which often meant only two people could film, nevertheless using two cameras was faster than one.
We instructed our characters to dress in the appropriate clothing; The mother dressed in casual smart clothes, and the detective in smart shirt and tie. We researched the dress code of a detective and we found out that they often wore either police uniform, or a suit with a detective name badge. As we were unable to access a badge we decided to make a name tag that we placed in front of him on the desk stating: 'Detective Smith'
We asked the actors how to behave, for example we wanted the mother to be very fragile and upset and the detective to be firm and informative, but also to be sensitive. Both actors worked very well and we are very pleased with their acting and our footage. We finished just in time and I then uploaded the footage and looked through it and began to put it in our project in order so we were already ahead. Today Hannah came in and looked through the sequence and made some changes before our lesson where me and Nicole looked through it and then made some more changes and we now have our opening sequence finished, we just need to get our teacher to look over it. We had to be careful not to break the 180 degree rule and this first scene reall contrast the next scene of the kidnapping, making it more dramatic.